The Senate backed a resolution Monday encouraging high schools and colleges to promote a law that allows parents to leave their newborn babies at fire stations or hospitals.

Since the law passed in 2000, 15 babies have been turned in to these safe havens. The latest one came in September when a newborn boy was left in a tackle box at a fire station in Greeley. The law only protects parents who give up their babies within three days of their birth.

Sen. Suzanne Williams, D-Aurora, said some teenage mothers are still leaving their babies to die in high school bathrooms or at home despite the law.

The measure (Senate Joint Resolution 29) backed by the Senate asks high schools and colleges to educate students about the law, provide counseling and place safe-haven signs on campus. It’s set to be voted on in the House Tuesday and promoted at a news conference by First Lady Jeannie Ritter.

Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, objected. He said he thinks supporters of the measure are trying to be compassionate, but advertising that people have the option to abandon their babies goes too far.

“There’s also the argument that it is the fraying of the bounds and the bonds of civilization, that is the fraying of the bonds of family,” he said.

Eight other Republicans joined with Mitchell to vote against the resolution.

Williams said promoting the law will help save babies’ lives by reaching out to their parents.

“These are desperate, desperate people who have nowhere to turn to,” she said following the debate.

The safe-haven law was enacted to provide an alternative to abandonment after a baby was left in the diaper section of a grocery store in 2000.

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